


half & 1/2

by nanakomatsus



Series: R   A   M [2]
Category: NU'EST
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire Slayer, Blood and Gore, Dark Fantasy, Dimension Travel, World Travel, not too much but enough, vampire hunters to be exact
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2020-12-16 23:47:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,762
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21044780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanakomatsus/pseuds/nanakomatsus
Summary: baekho and minhyun travel across worlds, leaving trails of crimson in their wake





	half & 1/2

**Author's Note:**

> [soundtrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKk8xsaPx7k)

_ **i.** _

The wind whistles shrilly in his ears. Fine grains of sand flurry about, warping around him. The wind is dry and harsh. Still, he sits unmoving from his perch at the edge of the roof. Leaning back on his arms, he watches the endless blood red sky stuck in an eternal sunset. The sun’s been hovering over the horizon for four days now, a glowing yellow orb unmoving against a pool of crimson. Footsteps approach, the broken-down rock crackling under leather boots.

“_ He _ said it was going to rain,” the man says, eyes trailing a minor sandstorm in the distance. The footsteps draw closer until they’re right beside him. His partner looms above, joining him in scanning the scenery. 

“You should be happy it didn’t. I wouldn’t want to end up like these buildings,” the other man sniffs, his allergies unrelenting. The seated man grunts something between _ fair enough _ and _ we could handle it. _

Littered throughout the desert, as far as the eye can see, even lining the horizon, are half-sunken buildings, all of them abandoned shells of what was once a thriving metropolis. Except, the men had noted, they weren’t sunken; they were eroded down by the rain. Reduced to red dust.

“It’s time,” Minhyun announces, checking his watch. The other regards him with mild surprise. “So soon?”

“We’ve been here long enough,” he answers curtly, earning a shrug from his partner.

“Well, it is getting a little cloudy over there. ‘Guess _ he _was right,” Baekho says with a little humour in his voice, pointing his chin west where maroon clouds are beginning to gather over the tiny sandstorm now growing larger in size. The taller nods minutely in the affirmative. With a heave, he picks himself from the ground, dusting himself off. 

“Just in time,” he breathes with a small smirk as he spots the human-sized glass capsule holding their latest kill at the other end of the roof. Soon, it is encased in a familiar seal, glowing for a moment before disappearing into the ground.

“Shall we?” He doesn’t even need to ask. They thrust their forearms out together, revealing matching black compasses etched onto their skin. A seal similar to the one before appears beneath them, spinning in a clockwise direction.

The ground opens up under them, howling. They’re swallowed by magic just as a flash of white erupts in the sky along with a clap of thunder, signalling the beginning of the rain fall.

_ **ii.** _

They land on a proper skyscraper this time, one so pristine it almost blinds them. It’s made of white chrome and as they look around, taking in their new surroundings, so are all the other buildings. Everything is blinding. Even the pitch black chrome highways that wind through the city in dizzying spirals. Blinding in the way that it’s too dark for the eye to comprehend and yet the sun (artificial, Minhyun notes with a frown) bounces off it like it would off normal glass.

And the smell of the air-

“Mint,” Baekho comments distastefully.

They start slow, taking the elevator down all 300 floors. There’s nothing much to look at. It's quiet for such a huge city. There isn't much noise- any at all, in fact.

The doors slide open to reveal a grand lobby. Overhead is a giant white crystal chandelier. And greeting them is a crowd of-

"Automatons. All of them," Minhyun says aloud, keeping his voice neutral as the silver chrome beings wordlessly welcome them. They ignore the vaguely feminine robots fluttering soundlessly about them and make their way through. Outside, it is almost just as empty as the rest of the building they came from. Only a few silver figures loiter about harmlessly. Cars pass by unmanned; sleek white things, completely curved akin to a leaf, engines humming lowly with a strange feminine lilt.

Baekho's nose and hands twitch suddenly, his eyes darkening.

"It's close," he says, voice lower than a whisper. There is a pregnant pause, a heart-stopping silence that fills the air almost as if to warp space and time. And then-

"Your five," he snaps. 

In a second, Minhyun's whipped out his shotguns, double wielding contrasting black and white Umarexs carved with crimson detailing. He's locked his aim on the oncoming vehicle, and begins to open fire. The noise is deafening. Shells fall to his side, twinkling innocently.

Beside him, Baekho's palms are pressed together, crackling with energy. He smirks as the car’s tyres burst and it loses its autonomous control and violently lurches. He crouches, taking up a sloppy sprinter's stance.

With a bellow, he begins his run-up before pushing himself off the ground, leaving imprints on the marble and catapults into the air, conjuring from his palms a jikdo with a pure white blade. Its hilt is carved with a tiger's head and hung is a red tassel.

The sword slices through the chrome metal like butter. He catches a glimpse of ruby red eyes glinting through the darkness of the interior. The car falls into two behind him as he lands deftly, crashing into the tar. Then, two shots ring through the crackling of the flames.

He doesn’t turn to look.

Minhyun appears beside him a moment later, holding the messily decapitated head by the roots of its hair. Baekho steals a glance at his regal features, blood splattered across his eye and cheek.

“Body’s dusted. Flames were too much,” is all he says.

They go on their way.

His fingers card through brown hair, making sure to get to the scalp. He knows how Minhyun gets with the lingering smell of blood. He doesn’t like it himself. Every one of their kills had a different scent. And when it stays long enough, the stories begin to seep into his mind. He doesn’t need that on his conscience.

They’d set up camp without any trouble in a penthouse. Empty, as expected. The only automaton was the one in the elevator, tasked with pressing the button to open and close the doors for them.

“They seem like they’re waiting, don’t you think?” Minhyun’s honey-like voice cuts through his daze, echoing around them in the large bathroom, his body vibrating with every word between Baekho’s legs. 

“I dunno. Didn’t think of it that way. Seems the opposite to me. Like they’ve got no more purpose after whoever was here left,” he replies, working his way down to the taller’s back. Minhyun lets out a small sigh of pleasure. His stomach tightens at that.

“Which one’s worse?” Minhyun muses softly, absentmindedly tracing the compass emblazoned on his skin.

Later when they’re both spent, chests heaving, they lie on their backs and turn to the night sky beyond the glass roof up above. The moon’s a perfect crescent, its glow neon and unnatural. It’s beautiful all the same.

“What do you dream of?” Minhyun asks softly, breathlessly. Baekho grunts, folding his arms behind his head.

“A normal life,” he replies simply.

“What’s that like where you come from?” 

He sighs and musters a half-shrug. “Swimming in the ocean, just floating in that blue. I want a farm, too.”

He feels Minhyun nod beside him. “Sounds nice.”

He lets the conversation lull for a moment. Then, “What about you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe… one where we’re not chasing anything.”

The artificial stars twinkle up above, oblivious to their non-existence.

“Doesn’t sound right, does it?” Minhyun laughs at that; a full, warm kind of sound escaping his chest.

“Not at all.”

_ **iii.** _

The wind whistles shrilly in their ears.

They’re a long way up again.They’d kept on climbing through the endless criss-cross of stairs, unable to get a tight hold on their target. This one’s stronger than all the others. And it’s still got a sliver of intelligence left.

The sound of metal humming under their feet as they desperately make their way upwards resounds through the air all around them, like an endless hum. There is nowhere to go but up in this world where only this singular, gigantic, hollow glass structure exists encased by a red, rusted pylon towering into the skies.

They’re close. He can smell it just ahead. And then… it stops. 

So do they. Minhyun’s above him, standing alert, hands ready at his holsters. They hear nothing but the relentless humming of the metal around them, much softer now, almost fading away-

It comes faster than they can react - the cloud of screeching black. Baekho somehow manages to summon his jikdo just in time to shield himself. The bats bounce off the field protecting him, hissing as it electrocutes them. The sound of gunshots pierce through the noise, like thunder clapping.

Minhyun comes falling down.

Baekho lunges with a roar, jumping after him. He manages to catch hold of a railing. His arm twists grotesquely and he lets out a sharp cry. He feels blood begin to seep across his chest, down the other arm hanging onto Minhyun. A feral cackling rings close.

“Let go,” Minhyun says raggedly, trying his best in raising his voice above the noise; the noise of the wind, the creatures circling them and above the noise of their death approaching. Baekho grits his teeth.

“Not a chance,” he growls and locks his gaze fiercely on his partner’s. “Get us out of here. I know you can.”

Minhyun’s eyes widen. A wry smile colours his lips. Energy wells up inside him, what may be his last-

“We’re getting out of here. Alive. Both of us,” Baekho interrupts, much to his surprise, a fire in his eyes. Minhyun doesn’t respond.

A glowing ribbon of peach wraps around both their arms, slowly encasing the both of them whole. The seal appears floating below, just out of reach from Minhyun’s toes. 

Then, it appears just above, fangs bared gleefully. Baekho smirks, tightens his grip around Minhyun’s hand and lets go. 

_ In the end, the hunters become the hunted, _ he thinks bitterly as they descend into the portal along with their hunter.

_ **iv.** _

Minhyun’s breathing is laboured against his neck, his body heavier despite the trail of blood seeping into the ground behind them.

He’s hanging off Baekho’s shoulder, barely able to walk. But the other steadies him around the waist, palm flat against his ribcage. In his other hand, he drags the head of their kill, lopped off just as the portal had closed on it. 

“You’re not dying on me,” Baekho croaks through gritted teeth. Minhyun smiles, lips curving against his shoulder.

Together, they continue their trek through the vast golden field, leaving bloodied footsteps in their wake.

**Author's Note:**

> -the vampire hunters!au i've had in my drafts for months but never got round to writing  
-leather is kinky  
-insp [x](http://gallery.minitokyo.net/view/411567) [x](http://gallery.minitokyo.net/view/288984)  
-fun fact _he_ refers to ren as the dimensional witch aka their boss


End file.
